Where does Wal-mart Stores, Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Wal-mart Stores, Inc. ranks #1,402 of 49,997 assignees by granted-patent volume, the same sort as the companies listing and top-holders ranking. See /methodology/#corpus-placement.

How many patents does Wal-mart Stores, Inc. hold?

Wal-mart Stores, Inc. holds 301 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2021, spanning 64 technology areas.

What is Wal-mart Stores, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Wal-mart Stores, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 55.4 out of 100 (top 7% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is Wal-mart Stores, Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Wal-mart Stores, Inc.'s recent grant velocity is -99% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). Grant activity has slowed relative to earlier years.

What does claim depth mean for Wal-mart Stores, Inc.'s patents?

Wal-mart Stores, Inc.'s patents average 17.8 claims each. This is an aggregate descriptive count from the grant record; it does not establish claim scope, legal strength, enforceability, or design-around risk.

How is the Wal-mart Stores, Inc. patent data sourced?

All patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering US granted utility patents from 2015 to 2025.

USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView US Corporation

Wal-mart Stores, Inc.

Q: What technology areas does Wal-mart Stores, Inc. focus on?

Wal-mart Stores, Inc.'s top technology area is G06Q (Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory PURPOSES; Systems OR Methods Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory Purposes, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR) with 172 patents, ranking #90 of 6,520 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 64 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 301 granted patents across 64 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2021. Grant-trend analysis is cross-referenced to USPTO Patent Public Search; it does not measure application filings, current R&D, or legal strength. Primary class: G06Q (Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory PURPOSES; Systems OR Methods Specially Adapted FOR Administrative,).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

RSS updates for this company

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Wal-mart ranks #1,402 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 301 patents across 64 technology areas.

#1,402
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 7%
by Innovation Score (55.4/100): 17.8
avg claims per patent: -99%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R1402 · US Corporation #1,402 · 301 grants

GRANTS-MID · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-WIDE · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MID 301 grants
TOP-DECILE #1,402/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Autoliv ASP
CPC-WIDE G06Q · 64 areas
INNOV-PAR 55.4/100
CLAIMS-RICH 17.8 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -99% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Autoliv ASP, Inc. (±0 grants)

Instrument codes from this assignee’s USPTO PatentsView grant sheet: volume band, corpus rank, photo-finish peer, lead CPC, Innovation Score, claim depth, assignee type, velocity, and book completeness. Not a USPTO rating of patent strength.

How Wal-mart’s 55.4 Innovation Score adds up

The same four weighted components behind every Innovation Score on PlainPatent: portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth.

Volume 19.7 pts (36%) Velocity 0.0 pts (0%) Breadth 25.0 pts (45%) Claim depth 10.7 pts (19%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Arcam AB · near

55
Kuraray Noritake… · near

55
OUR United · near

55
Ruckus IP Holdings · near

55
Wal-mart Stores · this assignee

55
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Wal-mart's Innovation Score is 55.4/100 (top 7% of the PatentsView-derived corpus). The chart places that score against the nearest Innovation Score peers plus corpus poles, not a reprint of the volume ranking.

Does more volume mean deeper claims for Wal-mart?

Each dot is one of Wal-mart’s 8 nearest volume peers (same corpus rank neighbourhood as the chart above), placed by total granted patents (horizontal) against average claims per patent (vertical). Wal-mart’s own 17.8 claims/patent is at or below the 18.6 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

Wal-mart vs its 8 nearest volume peers: granted patents vs average claims per patent. Source: USPTO PatentsView.

How Wal-mart's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Wal-mart Stores, Inc. received 3 grants versus 298 in 2015–2019 (-99% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2017 at 93 grants and bottomed in 2020 at 1. Lead class G06Q accounts for 57.1% of the portfolio across 64 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Truist Bank (#1,398) and Energous Corporation (#1,406).

Truist Bank

302
Autoliv ASP

301
Cloudflare

301
Voith Patent

301
Wal-mart Stores ◀

301
Amphenol

300
Arvinmeritor Tech…

300
Baxalta Incorpora…

300
Energous

300

What this shows Wal-mart holds 301 patents at rank #1,402, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Wal-mart

By rank, the assignees closest to #1,402 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in G06Q (Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially…)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in Wal-mart's primary technology class.

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Wal-mart, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In G06Q (Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially…), Wal-mart ranks #90 of 6,520 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (55 here).

Arcam AB 55 Kuraray Noritake Dental Inc. 55 OUR United Corporation 55 Ruckus IP Holdings LLC 55

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (17.8 here).

Hefei BOE Joint Technology Co., Ltd. 17.8 avg Oticon A/S 17.8 avg Yale University 17.8 avg Festool GMBH 17.8 avg

Wal-mart's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

Composite of portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth (0–100)

55 Top 7% higher than 93% of 49,997 US assignees

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US assignees. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score · 2015–2025

USPTO utility patent grants by year · 2015–2021

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2015–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Wal-mart Stores, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	74	24.6%
2016	71	23.6%
2017	93	30.9%
2018	60	19.9%
2020	1	0.3%
2021	2	0.7%

Which technologies does Wal-mart Stores, Inc. patent most?

G06Q - Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory PURPOSES; Systems OR Methods Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory Purposes, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 172

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 119

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 32

G06K - Graphical Data Reading ; Presentation OF DATA; Record CARRIERS; Handling Record Carriers 32

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 24

G07G - Registering THE Receipt OF Cash, Valuables, OR Tokens 23

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 14

A47F - Special Furniture, Fittings, OR Accessories FOR Shops, Storehouses, Bars, Restaurants OR THE LIKE; Paying Counters 13

G01C - Measuring Distances, Levels OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; Gyroscopic INSTRUMENTS; Photogrammetry OR Videogrammetry 12

B62B - Hand-propelled Vehicles, e.g. Hand Carts OR PERAMBULATORS; Sledges 12

G01S - Radio DIRECTION-FINDING; Radio NAVIGATION; Determining Distance OR Velocity BY USE OF Radio WAVES; Locating OR Presence-detecting BY USE OF THE Reflection OR Reradiation OF Radio WAVES; Analogous Arrangements Using Other Waves 12

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 12

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 11

G06N - Computing Arrangements Based ON Specific Computational Models 10

G08G - Traffic Control Systems 9

Top 15 of 64 technology areas

More on this record

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

View all rankings → How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

Wal-mart Stores, Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Wal-mart Stores, Inc.'s lead technology class is G06Q (Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory PURPOSES; Systems OR Methods Specially Adapted FOR Administrative,), 57.1% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G06Q
Ranked #1,402 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Wal-mart Stores, Inc. against Truist Bank, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 55.4/100 blends volume, velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth. How it's calculated

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through May 2026; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the USPTO PatentsView database. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sources used on this page

USPTO PatentsView - the disambiguated bulk patent-grant, assignee, and CPC data this page's figures are derived from. patentsview.org
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) - the joint USPTO/EPO classification scheme used to group patents by technology area. cooperativepatentclassification.org
USPTO Patent Public Search - the official interface to verify the status of any individual patent. ppubs.uspto.gov

Compiled by PlainPatent , US Patent Intelligence Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2026.